sharyl attkisson check out how the bonus is working in the first city to try the idea >> reporter: tenth grader lennard long attends a public high school in washington, d.c., where his mom, leticia, used to be frustrated there were no teacher involveses. >> parents would say this teacher they didn't think there was a good teacher but you didn't have an idea why. they weren't evaluated and there wasn't anything for to us determine why. >> reporter: test scores here ranked among the worst in the nation, even though the district was spending more per pupil than large u.s. cities, almost $13,000 per student. but in 2009, washington, d.c. became first in the nation to tie teacher salaries to student test scores under a program called "impact." teachers rated highly effective can get annual bonuses up to $25,000 if they stay at that achievement level for two straight years, they can also get a base salary increase of $20,000. a highly effective teacher can earn $76,000, the first year, and reach $131,000 in just nine years. less effective teachers earn 51,000 to start and are fired if they get